TIbetan Opera

  the show is done in the round, and the back half of the circle is used for performers 'offstage'
 
  Before every opera is performed, all performers do prostrations
 

This guy was running around and spinning at the same time, using his arms to propel himself as he jumped in the air


Yesterday I attended the Tibetan opera up at TIPA – Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. I had heard rumours that the Dalai Lama would be out and about on Saturday, so i was trying to keep my feelers out for where... I then found out on Friday eve that the event was at TIPA, which is only about a 10 minute walk from where I stay, so off I went. Well, the Dalai Lama was not in attendance (well I didn’t see him there), but the Karmapa (who is also a very high Tibetan Buddhist teacher) was in attendance. The event was free to attend, plus we were given free sweet rice and Tibetan tea – I have learned to skip the Tibetan tea part... it consists of a few tea leaves, milk and butter...
The Opera goes on all day – I don’t know whether they were different operas just running back to back, or if it was one continuous thing – I am thinking probably a few running back to back as I did not see anything to link the different scenes. I soon realised that sitting underneath the speaker was not a good plan, as some of the performers had individual mikes and the sound desk was not always great at volume control! Nonetheless, it was an extremely colourful event, which I am pleased that I had the opportunity to attend. I would have like to post a video, but my little camera died before I left the UK, and I haven’t managed to get a replacement yet... so still photos will have to do.

Triund

 
 
 
 

For some reason, today I cannot write next to the pics, but the last one shows where I climbed... that bit in front of the snowy peak, I climbed up there...

On Sunday I had the day off from my course as well as from working in the coffee shop, so I took a walk up some local mountains with Tanya, who I met in the coffee shop. It felt like a hike just getting to our meeting spot, as I first had to clime the 235 steps from where I am staying up to the road, and then the long walk. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of the hike, which was probably a good thing as I might have decided not to do it had I known... We walked UP for 5 hours... OMG, that was tough going, because my body just feels a slight incline and it starts protesting and becomes really heavy and tired. So I am very grateful for my guides’ patience! Half way up, as i arrived at the top of a ridge, the view of the other side hit me – it was so magnificent. So that tiny icy peak that has been peaking over the mountains became a range of icy peaks. So we sat down and had our lunch on the side of the mountain, with a magnificent view. The mangey dog from the other day came bounding up to us at this point – and so I thought I would share my peanut butter chipati with him, but he turned his nose up at it. He then proceeded to follow us a bit, before we realised that he had followed someone else up and so we ended up all walking together – with Mangey. I was blown away by the views... My photos do not really convey my experience – but they can at least give you some idea of what it was like. When we reached the top we stopped and had chai/coke and lunch before heading down the other side. The journey down was a different experience completely, as there were rhododendron forests as well as glaciers that hadn’t completely melted. The rhododendron flowers were in full bloom, and so there were beautiful red and pink colours all the way down. Walking in my strappy top, being warm and having snowball fights at the same time seemed quite surreal, but definitely the way I prefer to experience snow!

Settling in...

It is strange to be talking of settling in when I am on the road, but it does feel that I am settling in. I have moved accommodation, so I am now paying half the price I was paying, for pretty much the same thing and without a damp issue. I have had a bad cold – croaky voice and all – and it seems to finally be going... I gave up on the Tibetan meds and switched to western meds, but to be honest, I don’t think either of them have done anything... It is slowly getting better though. Being ill has not stopped me though, I continue to have a relatively full schedule. In the mornings I head down the hill to the Tibetan Library for the Buddhist philosophy class, where we are receiving teachings on ‘A guide to the Boddhisattva way of life’ written by Shantideva many moons ago. It is a 3 month course but I will only be here for the first 3 weeks of it... Then the other thing I am doing is volunteering in a coffee shop, which is a shop that is set up to raise money for a baby day care centre for the local Tibetan population. It is really low key, so not stressful at all. There are power failures a few times a day, so you can only serve what is possible in the moment... ;-)
Yesterday was my afternoon off at the shop, so I went with someone else to see Tenzin Palmo’s monastery, she is the person who wrote Cave in the Snow, as she spent 12 years meditating in a cave. I had not made an appointment to chat to her so I only got to greet her, whereas the person I went with was able to spend an hour chatting with her. It was a good day nonetheless, as it was my first experience on public transport in India, which worked surprisingly well, and it is really a cost effective way to travel as taxis charge the earth – in Rupee terms anyway. The whole journey cost me IR90, which is about £1,25, and it is a 2 and a half hour trip one way!

Tomorrow is washing day...

The Dr and Norbulinka

Anne and I at Norubulinka Monastary
Tibetan prayer flags..
The karmapas temple in the distance, with the monks' residences on either side
my bokdrol meds...

The room I had been in staying in had a serious damp issue, and as a result I have developed a cold.  This morning, my cold was sounding a lot worse, so I decided to check out the Tibetan Dr on my way to meet a friend.  I walked in, and saw him immediately, and was given medicine within minutes, which all came to less than £1 – that is the consultation and medicine!  The tablets look like bokdrols (sheep poop for the non-South Africans), and they taste disgusting!  And yes, I am moving to a different part of town, hopefully to a room without damp...

After the Dr I went to Norbulinka which is a Tibetan Bhuddist Temple and study institution,  and afterwards we went to the Karmapa’s temple, where we were fortunate enough to hear teachings by the Karmapa.  Luckily I was there with a Tibetan woman, who was able to tell me afterwards the just of what he was saying – to not engage in negative thinking as it can cause one to feel depressed, and some other stuff, which I can’t quite remember...  He gives teachings every Wednesday and Saturday, so I will hopefully get another chance to hear him before I go.

From tomorrow I am volunteering in the Rogpa shop, which is a little shop that raises money for a day care centre, so that parents can take their babies there for free so that they can work.  I have also put my name forward for looking after the children, but they did not have any vacancies.  What interests me is how easy it is to get volunteer work here – no 2 month wait for a CRB check... 

Making friends with strays...

Yesterday I took a walk to a place called Bhagsu, which is a couple of km’s up the hill from where I currently reside.  It is so good to be out in the sunshine... sigh... and yes, I put sunblock on my bald head!  Near the waterfall (which is one of the central features of Bhagsu), I noticed that the dog I had just passed had decided to follow me.  Now there are a lot of dogs which just live on the streets – they are kind of free range dogs, and you never know what mood they are in.  So anyway, this dog decided to befriend me and when I was sitting by the waterfall was sitting right next to me – that is him in the pic...  A short while later another dog arrived – I think it was my friends brother, only he had mange, and he wanted to sit on my lap so I had to hold him off, and he was happy with me just having my hand on him.  I thought that if I caught mange from him, then the hairloss thing will not be such a huge issue for me... ;-)

In the evening I went to watch a dvd on the Tibetan issue, and found that quite sad, as it was quite graphic and showed some horrific footage about things that have happened in Tibet.

The tourist becomes the tourist attraction...

McLeod Ganj up on the hill... with the himalayas as a backdrop

8km's to go until I reach McLeod Ganj

a man building his house with makeshift scaffholding
Yesterday I went for a walk down the hill to Dharamsala.  I went to a museum of local art, and had someone follow me around the place - I thought he was security making sure I didn't touch anything... but realised he was more interested in making money off me when he told me that i needed to pay him IR100 for taking a photo... I deleted the photo and told him it wasn't worth it... I think he was a bit disappointed.

I then took a long walk back up the hill and the above pics are from the walk... The locals all thought I was a bit mad to be walking all the way on foot... but how else would I get to experience the views at my leisure...? While I was walking two local Indian girls wanted their picture taken with me - I asked why but they didn't quite answer... So now some random people have a pic of me... Then when I was half way up the hill a tourist  bus drove past and some of them were leaning out the windows to take pics of me - LOL!! like i was a wild animal that they had been hoping to see - so here, the tourist becomes the tourist attraction... ;-)

Loaves and fishes, and a whack on the head

Prayer wheels in the center of town (McLeod Ganj)
Spinning prayer wheels in the temple
Tibetans waiting for a blessing from the lama
Sakya Gongma Rinpoche, who blessed me by tapping me on the head with a stick ;-)

The Dalai Lama finished his teachings early, so in the afternoon we were allowed to take cameras in and Sakya Gongma Rinpoche was giving blessings. The queue was huge and I wasn't intending on joining it, so was standing to one side taking photos. Then they were handing out blessing cords, so myself and another lady that i met there decided to ask for a blessing cord. We then somehow managed to land in the front of the queue for blessings without having the customery Kata to offer. It was a mad moment, which left me laughing. Needless to say, we got our blessing cords after the tap on the head. LOL!

What has fascinated me, was how when sitting at the temple for teachings, they manage to provide Tibetan bread and tea for everyone there... It kind of reminded me of the biblical story of the loaves and fishes... there always seems to be an abundance of food, no matter how many people are there...

a brief glance...

I have been attending the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, these past few days, and fortunately i have managed to sit in spots that  are quite close to where he passes.  Yesterday afternoon, as he walked past, he glanced in my general direction and so I raised my hands in the prayer position as a sign of respect.  At this moment he grinned and lifted one of his hands in a half greeting... Now usually someone would say that he was looking at them, but what I ended up doing was doubting that he had actually seen me, and told myslef that he was greating someone else near me - this is one of my things... doubting my own experience... So I found myself needing him to look at me just one more time so I could be sure - LOL!  Anyway, this morning I was near a Hangarian girl who decided to write on her national flag that  says Hungary loves Tibet, and lo-and-behold, it got the attention of HHDL.  So he came over and shook her hand, and looked at the rest of us with that huge smile of his.  I can now say for certain that the Dalai Lama glanced at me...  All this concern about whether he saw me or not, leads me to wonder why it was so important in the first place...  I think there is something in his glance that can just cut through all the defences and get straight to the heart... although for some reason I needed a few glances, and will probably still need a few more to get through my defences, LOL!  I have noticed that since ariving in India, I have felt very defended, so I realise that this is what I need to work on for the moment... I get a strong sense of everyone wanting something from me, so i need to work on not tensing in such a situation.


Going into the temple twice each day, we get body searched (like in our cleavage as well!!), and bag fully searched as well, as we are not allowed to take in any cameras or phones - so no pics unfortunately...

Hello Delhi!.. and Dharamsala

I arrived into Delhi in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, which thankfully meant less chaos at the airport, which i imagine is what I would have met had i arrived later in the day.  I was expecting it to be light already at 5am, but it was not, and by the time i cleared customs and was in the taxi, the sun was rising.  It is quite weird how air pollution makes for the most amazing blazing read sun rise...

  I booked myself a prepaid taxi to Manu Ka Tilla, which is the Tibetan quater in Delhi.  My taxi driver was trying furiously to convince me that i should go to Para Ganj because they sell the best hot dogs... and that is where all the other tourists go.  I imagine it was closer, as he probably didn’t feel like trekking all the way to Manu ka Tilla.  Let me begin by saying that I am most grateful that I survived the taxi ride (bows in appreciation). It was great practice in not getting anxious, which I managed most of the journey, except where the taxi driver ran red lights – although after a while i was even getting used to that – and where he was not braking when vehicles slowed or stopped in front of us, but opted to swerve around instead with no regard for other cars.  I decided to trust that i would arrive safely and tried to convince myself this was how he always drove and was still alive, so that was a good sign.

Thankfully he dropped me off in the right place so it did not take me too long to find where i had planned to spend the day. As I had arrived in Delhi at 11pm UK time and 5am Delhi time, i had some catching up to do in the sleep department.  I had to clean my room before I could get to the bed, as the previous people had left the place in an utter mess, food all over, rubbish all over the place...  The other option was to wait 4 hours for them to clean it...  The toilet flushing mechanism in my room appears to have died many moons ago, so they have thoughtfully provided me with a bucket so that I can fill it with water manually .

I have ventured out already, been to the internet cafe, been on a little walk, and now I am waiting for my bus to Dharamsala, which leaves in a few hours.  That is going to be a 12 hour bus ride overnight, so I am hoping that it is not going to be too rough a ride....

Wednesday

It was a long ride, and at 9hours into the journey I reflected on how well i was doing in not getting car sick... That was also the point where we started hitting the mountain roads... All I am saying is that I am really glad i packed my ziplock jiffy bag! LOL!

I was shattered by the time i arrived and so did not go to the teachings, but will be there first thing tomorrow. Now for some more sleep... zzz....zzzz...